


Kal-if-fee

by Meri



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: AOS, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-15
Updated: 2009-11-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 21:51:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meri/pseuds/Meri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nyota learns a few things about Spock and his culture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kal-if-fee

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Neither Spock nor Nyota belong to me, mores the pity.   
> **Notes: ** Written for Beth H's birthday. Thanks to Regan_V, who is a stellar beta and as always, gives me good advice.

Spock opened the door to Nyota's knock. "Please come in, Nyota."

She wasn't nervous, and the deep breath she took as she walked by him was because she was winded from the walk across campus. With a bright smile, she sat down on the sofa. "You wanted to see me?"

He remained standing, and cleared his throat. "I believe that we have progressed to a point in our relationship where a decision needs to be made."

Oh, yes. Finally. She'd been waiting for some sign that there _was_ a relationship. Even if he dumped her -- though he couldn't do that since they weren't actually dating yet -- even if he told her he wasn't interested, she'd finally, finally know one way or another. She resisted the urge to take another deep breath and instead raised her head to look up at him. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"I had assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that you wished to pursue a sexual relationship with me."

Trust Spock to spell it out in no uncertain terms. And did he sound nervous? Or was it just that he wasn't sure how to precede? There was nothing she could see in his face that told her what he was thinking. Not that there ever was, but sometimes, she could catch something that gave her a clue. That made it damned difficult to figure out what she should say to that.

"Well, I assumed that I wasn't the only one here who might be interested in a relationship," she responded, a little nettled.

"You are correct. However, there are some things you do not yet understand that could have a bearing on your final decision."

Damn, why wasn't anything ever easy with him? Well, working for something makes it all the more valuable. "While, I'm willing to do what is necessary to meet the expectations of your culture and norms, I expect that to be a two-way street."

"I, too, am amenable to whatever cultural requirements are necessary. As long as I know what is expected of me," Spock said.

If he were willing to accommodate her that also boded well for their nascent relationship. "Do you want a list?" she quipped.

"That would be an excellent idea." His lips twitched very slightly. Clearly, he did not take everything quite as literally as he would have her believe.

"I was joking," Nyota said, trying not to smile.

"I was not." Spock looked down at his hands. "However, before you tell me about your requirements, I must tell you mine."

The expression on his face said he was nervous or embarrassed. She knew he was letting her see it. Which meant this was not a small issue. "Are there that many?"

"There aren't. But the requirements are...significant. And in theory, could be very dangerous."

Yeah, not what she was expecting to hear. At all. "Dangerous? How? Do you turn into a vampire on the full moon?"

He tilted his head and looked at her, confusion clear in his dark eyes. "I do not understand the reference."

"It was a mish-mash of a couple of centuries old references. Don't worry about it." She didn't want to get side-tracked trying to explain it.

As always, he took her at her word. "To continue, there is something about Vulcan culture that is not in books and you won't find any references to it. It is our tradition of the _Koon-ut-Kal-if-fee_. The --"

The Vulcan wasn't modern, but she knew the words. "Marriage or challenge?"

"Correct. At the appropriate time, I will be called to Vulcan to marry the female to whom I am betrothed."

What? Betrothed? "Wait." She stood up. "You're betrothed. As in an arranged marriage?" As in something he had completely failed to mention. She folded her arms over her chest and reined back her outrage.

"Affirmative. I was betrothed at seven years of age," Spock said without inflection. "I have not seen her since then."

Nyota had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. God, in all her scenarios where he pushed her away, she never, ever thought he'd already be married. Or almost married. "But you are still going to marry her?"

"She and I are bonded. Touching and never touched. If things progress as they might, I will be called back to Vulcan to marry her, yes. Unless --"

"Unless what?" She felt like she was missing something here and if she didn't ask the right question, she was likely to go on missing it.

Spock looked down at his hands, and then back at her, his eyes intent on her. "Unless there is a challenge."

"A challenge? What kind of challenge are you talking about?" This was totally not making any sense at all.

"Usually, if one of the bonded pair wishes to break the bond, they must challenge to do so."

"What you're saying is that you'll have to challenge your...whatever she is, to break the bond between you?" Nyota asked, still not getting what he was trying to say. "Do you mean a legal challenge? Like in court?"

"No." Spock shook his head. "_You_ will have to challenge her for me. And not in the courts."

"Why would I challenge, rather than you?"

"In my culture only the women may challenge the bond." His tone was so closed that she knew there would be no questions allowed on that. Not any that would yield more information, at any rate.

Nyota tilted her head. This conversation got more and more bizarre. "Challenger her, how?"

"You will have to fight for me. Possibly to the death, if it comes to that." And clearly this wasn't a problem for the supposedly pacifist and logical Spock.

"Will it?" Fight to the death? Okay, she wasn't sure just what that would mean. What civilized culture had a secret to-the-death fight between its women?

"It is possible, though not likely. In all likelihood, T'Pring will not wish to fight you for me." He took a breath and went on. "In most cases, especially in the last several hundred years, when there has been a challenge to the female's claim she has conceded, and there was no fight."

"What happens after she concedes? Is the bond broken?"

"Yes. And I become the property of the victor."

Nyota could not believe such a thing even existed in such a sophisticated society such as the Vulcans'. "Property? No way. That's barbaric."

"This comes down through our generations almost from the time of Surak. If we challenge the marriage, we must be prepared to live with the consequences." He sounded very serious.

So, breaking the marriage bond was important. Why would it be so? It didn't make sense that a culture would impose that kind of penalty, especially when divorce was a legal option. "What aren't you telling me?"

Spock raised an eyebrow.

"There is more to it than that. There has to be. Ownership of one person by another is illegal in any form in the Federation. And that means that no one has had a challenge like this happen since Admiral Archer founded the Federation. So, a penalty that high has to have a reason. I'm missing something, aren't I?"

"I should have known that you would require more explanation." He said it with such a sigh in his voice that Nyota knew it had to be worse than anything she could imagine.

"Um...yes." She folded her arms over her chest and waited.

It took a moment for Spock to gather his thoughts. "This is not something that we speak of. Not amongst ourselves and not with outworlders. I find that I am reluctant to speak of it even now."

Even when he had to. Wow, it must be some kind of secret. "I require the information to make an informed decision. And if you don't wish to impart it...." She let it hang there.

Spock closed his eyes. "It is --"

The pause was drawn out and she wanted to hurry him along, but that didn't work with Spock under the best of circumstances.

"It is...the _pon farr_."

The words didn't translate into modern or ancient Vulcan. To point that out would be redundant, so she waited for him to continue.

"It is the time of mating. When Vulcans...male Vulcans...must return home to take a mate."

"A compulsion?"

"Correct. And we...are stripped of our logic, and burn with need." Spock wasn't looking at her, and his face was as green as she'd ever seen it.

Okay, she was getting it. Although, she was pretty sure it couldn't be as intense as Spock was making it out to be. Spock had to be pretty innocent when it came to sex.

When she'd first gotten to know Spock, she'd thought he'd been ignoring all of the subtle and not-so-subtle beings who threw themselves into his path. After a while, she realized that he had not even understood their interest for what it was. Some of the more frustrated beings had dubbed him the "Ice Prince," behind his back.

But on the other hand, she'd never known him to exaggerate. And if it wasn't intense, then why would they make it so hard to break the betrothal bond?

"So, how likely is it that I'll have to actually fight your betrothed?" Nyota asked.

"I suspect that she will concede without a fight. She has closed the bond down to the thinnest of threads. I can barely sense that she is alive."

"What should you be able to tell, and how will this bond affect me?"

"I am not certain exactly what I should be able to sense. I have never had more than I do right now. However, when I'm with my mother, who is human, and nearly psi-null, I can sense my father through her, just by touching her."

"Wow. Okay, so it should be a lot more than it was." Nyota was not sure that she wanted to have someone inside her head like that. But if anyone were going to be there, Spock would be the one she'd allow it with. "So, she'll concede?"

"I estimate there is a 98.45% chance that she has another lover already. And a 99.01% she will concede, if given the chance to do so."

"Those are good odds. What are the odds of me winning a fight against her?"

"There is a 76.93% chance you would win. She is physically much stronger. However, she is untrained in any kind of combat. She has worked as a cataloguer for the Vulcan Science Academy's library for many years."

"Yeah, so I could probably take her. But I doubt I could kill anyone like that and if I did, it would...damage me."

"I understand. The chances are slim that it would come to that."

Slim enough that she was willing to take a chance on Spock? She looked at him. And he was not showing anything, but she could see what telling her had cost him. And he must have been pretty sure of her to even have considered telling her about it. "What else is involved?"

"Right now? Nothing. We may not bond until the bond with T'Pring is broken."

"Can we become involved? I don't just mean physically. I mean emotionally."

"I believed that we were involved emotionally already. And yes, physical joining is possible now."

Now? "Wasn't it before?"

"Not until recently. I've only become physically mature in the last year."

She tried to keep the shock off her face. "You're going through _puberty_?"

"I am not. But Vulcans mature physically later than humans do. And physiologically I am much more Vulcan than human."

Right. "When might this challenge happen?"

"There is no real way to know. It could be many years, or it could be sooner."

"If it's many years, that means we won't be able to marry --"

Spock shook his head. "Not until the bond has been broken. Do you wish to marry in the near future?"

"Not right this minute." Or even this year or next. They would have time to get to know each other before she had to make _that_ decision. If she agreed, it would change everything.

But there was no way she'd give up this chance. And she could admit, to herself anyway, there was some part of her that kind of like the idea of thawing the Ice Prince. "I wouldn't really own you, would I?"

"As you said, it is illegal for one person to own another. Although your claim on me would have no legal standing anywhere in the Federation, including on Vulcan, there is a satisfaction associated with honoring the challenge as it was done in my ancestral times."

So, it was all about respect for ancient traditions. She didn't like the idea of it, even as symbolism, but if she'd learned nothing else in her years at the Academy, she'd learned that other cultures didn't always do things the way she thought they should be done. If she was going into space, she was going to have to learn to live with that. "I agree."

He managed to look delighted without moving a muscle in his face. His warm hand settled on her cheek and nudged her face forward until his lips covered hers.

Wow. Soft and hot, his mouth moved on hers, slowly, lingeringly. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, letting him deepen the kiss even more. Her arms slid around his waist. He felt so solid under her hands.

"I thought Vulcans didn't kiss like this," she said, catching her breath when he pulled back.

Spock stepped back, his expression blank. "Was it incorrectly done?"

She leaned forward and drew him back into her arms. "No. Not at all. You're very proficient. But you know, practice makes perfect."

He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. "Indeed. Then we should do so."

Indeed they would.

\--finis


End file.
